Nightmare
by Briar Elwood
Summary: Rose keeps having a nightmare and the behavior that comes because of it is greatly worrying the Doctor and Jack...yet she won't tell them what's wrong. Could be read as 9Rose or 10Rose, written as 9Rose.
1. Prologue

_A/N: Welcome all! Enjoy._

_Finally,_ the Doctor thought, _time to rest._ The last few days had been completely action-packed and even he-who-never-slept needed a chance to stop and take a quick rest. After shooing both Rose and Jack to bed, the Doctor had trudged to his room and collapsed upon his bed. That had been a few hours ago and yet he _still_ hadn't fallen asleep.

Something in the back of his mind was keeping him awake. His eyes were heavy, yet they refused to close. His mind was shutting down, yet working furiously, trying to figure out _what_ was bugging him so. He glared at the ceiling, as if blaming _it_ for keeping him up.

Then suddenly his vision was filled with a great, blinding white light. His body was filled with a white-hot pain but it was gone as soon as it had come.

For the few moments afterwards, the Doctor lay on his bed, gasping. He felt no desire to sleep anymore. When, abruptly, he knew what it meant.

"Rose!"

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	2. 1: Scrambled

Without a further thought, the Doctor rushed to Rose's room. He barged through the door and ran to her side, sitting on the edge of her bed. Rose was asleep, but she was flinching wildly and moaning pitifully, her breath coming out in irregular gasps.

"Rose," he whispered, shaking her shoulder. "Rose."

Her mouth opened in a loud groan.

"Rose!"

Her eyes flew open as she cried out, her head jerking upward. She saw the Doctor and stared at him, her brown eyes wide as dinner plates, as if she couldn't believe he was actually _there_.

"Rose…are you all right?" he asked, frightened by Rose's expression. Realizing she was now awake, Rose relaxed, resting her head on her arm.

"Rose?" the Doctor prodded. "What's wrong?"

Silently, Rose shook her head, staring quietly at the floor. The Doctor frowned.

"If something was wrong, you would tell me, wouldn't you?"

Rose glanced at him…then nodded. The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed. _Humans,_ he scoffed. _How easily they lie._

"All right," he said instead, chosing to ignore her obvious lie. "I'll see you in the morning." With that, he got up and walked out the room, keeping an eye on her silent figure until he shut the door.

XxXxX

The next morning Rose threw on some clothes and walked out the room, stumbling slightly. She had been awake since the Doctor had come into her room. She'd practically refused to fall back asleep. She wobbled to the kitchen and sat at the table, massaging her temples.

"Eggs?" the Doctor asked. Rose looked up to see him at the stove with an apron over his beloved leather jacket. Rose smiled slightly.

"Sure," she replied.

"How'd you like 'em?"

She shrugged. "Scrambled."

"Scrambled it is."

As silence filled the kitchen save the hissing of the frying pan cooking the eggs, Rose's thoughts drifted to her dream last night…or, more accurately, her nightmare. Goosebumps shot up her spine as the final image filled her mind's eye, but then she remembered the immediate image that had followed: the Doctor's face, caring and worried. Rose smiled. That had calmed her jumping nerves more than anything else could have.

"Your eggs, Madame," the Doctor said, scooping the eggs on a plate in front of Rose. Rose looked up and locked eyes with the Time Lord. The Doctor stopped with the eggs and sat in front of her, not able to look away from her gaze. Rose blushed, looking down at her eggs, then frowned.

"You have ketchup?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Ketchup?" he repeated.

"Yeah, for my eggs."

The Doctor smiled, amused. "In the fridge."

Rose got up and retrieved the ketchup, squirting the red flavoring over her bright yellow eggs. Then she sat back down. She stared at her food for a moment before the Doctor spoke.

"Sleep well?"

Rose looked up and glared at him. "I think you know the answer to that."

The Doctor shrugged. "You were having a bad dream," he guessed. "What was it about?"

Rose looked back to her eggs.

"Rose…why don't you trust me?"

Rose looked back up to him, shocked. How could he think that?

"I _do_trust you!"

The Doctor frowned. A high pitched beep emitted from a speaker and the Doctor glared at it.

"Stay here," he said, getting up and rushing to the control room. Rose turned back to her still untouched eggs. The mix of neon yellow and bold red didn't seem as appealing as it had earlier. She got up and scooped it into the sink, turning on the drain and watching as the concoction swirled into the sewage pumps.

"Mornin,'" came a low voice from the door. Rose turned to see a half-asleep Jack at the doorway.

"Morning," she replied, not looking him in the eye. Jack frowned.

"You okay?" he asked, coming up behind her. She sighed and turned around.

"I'm fine," she said unconvincingly. Jack rose his eyebrows.

"Bad dream?" he prodded. Rose glared at him. Jack smiled jestingly.

"Was _I_ in it?"

Rose's glare intensified.

"Was the _Doctor_ in it?"

Rose's glare was so harsh, tears were forming in her eyes. Jack noticed and his jesting mood vanished.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, stroking her cheek. Suddenly the Doctor rushed in the room. He glared at how close Jack and Rose were but decided to ignore it for the time being.

"We have a problem," he stated. Jack pulled away from Rose and smiled.

"Since when do we not?"

The Doctor glared at him. "I'm serious. The TARDIS has stalled and landed in prehistoric times. I've tried to get us out, but she's not cooperating."

Rose frowned. "Prehistoric? 'S in…dinosaurs?"

The Doctor sighed. "Yes, Rose. There are dinosaurs outside the TARDIS at this very moment."

Jack looked awed. "Cool."

The Doctor glared at him…again.

"No, Captain Jack, not 'cool.'"

Unexpectedly, the entire TARDIS rocked violently, throwing the three companions various directions. The Doctor looked at Jack with a _see-what-I-mean_ expression and went on,

"In fact, it's quite the _opposite_ of 'cool.'"

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	3. 2: Bananas

The three companions ran to the control room, the Doctor in the lead. Automatically he rushed to the screen showing the outside of the TARDIS. Rose followed and gasped as the TARDIS gave another violent shudder.

"Is that…?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yep."

Rose looked up to the Doctor's grim gaze. "But—"

Jack glanced at the screen. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "Are we in the inside of a dinosaur's mouth?"

The TARDIS rocked again and Rose flew forwards into the Doctor's arms. As he helped her steady herself, the Doctor gave Jack an exasperated look.

"Yes Jack. A dinosaur is trying to eat us."

Jack opened his mouth to comment, saw the Doctor's warning expression, and shut it. The Doctor smiled forcefully.

"Now. You two, grab onto something and mind your heads. This might hurt a bit," he said as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and ran to the door.

Fighting to keep his balance, the Doctor opened the door to be greeted by several large and rotten teeth. Wrinkling his nose at the smell, he poked his head out and looked up to the roof of the dinosaur's mouth. Biting hard on his lower lip, he aimed the sonic screwdriver at the fleshy ceiling and turned it on. A light blue laser shot up and through the dinosaur's mouth with just enough electricity to hurt. The dinosaur roared and dropped the TARDIS, making it bounce quite a ways away. The Doctor hit the floor hard and rolled, as Jack and Rose flew on top of each other. As soon as they came to a stop, Jack hauled himself up and helped Rose, who was wincing and rubbing the back of her head.

"Yep. That hurt."

The Doctor ran to the still-open door to see the enraged dino storming towards them. He grinned, and then turned back inside.

"Jack, distract the dino, I'll try to move the TARDIS."

Jack nodded, pulled out a banana from his coat and ran outside.

"Hey you! Like bananas?"

The Doctor smiled, then rushed to the main console, working furiously.

"Rose, close the doors!"

"But Jack—"

"The TARDIS can't move with the door wide open! We don't even know if it'll work and if it does, we'll come back for Jack!" the Doctor interrupted, not looking up once. Rose hesitated briefly, but then did as the Doctor bid.

"Right," the Doctor said as soon as he heard the door latch shut. "Now c'mere and watch that screen right there."

Rose rushed to the screen he had indicated to see Jack…and the dinosaur still running towards them.

"Tell me when the dinosaur's only a few meters away," he ordered. Rose nodded, though she knew the Doctor didn't see it.

Suddenly the image on the screen changed and the Doctor looked up.

"Did we move? I think we moved…. Did we move?" he asked, looking over Rose's shoulder.

"Yeah, we moved. We're behind it now," Rose replied. The Doctor grinned.

"Fantastic. Right now. Jack."

The two friends ran to the door and opened it. The Doctor caught Jack's eye and gestured for him to run to the TARDIS. Jack gave the large beast charging at him one last glance before abandoning the banana and running at top speed to the open TARDIS.

"Well, c'mon then. We can't stay here all day," the Doctor urged as soon as Jack got close enough. He ushered Jack into the TARDIS, closed the door, and ran back to the controls.

"He's comin' back," Rose informed him as she went back to her post.

"How d'ya know it's a 'he'?" Jack asked coming up behind her. Rose looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Does it really matter?"

"No, it doesn't," the Doctor answered, "so you two stop arguing and gimme a hand. Jack, you see that big green button over there? Hold it down. Rose, you keep an eye on that dinosaur."

Jack and Rose did as they were bid and the Doctor worked quickly, muttering to the TARDIS under his breath.

"C'mon girl. C'mon. Don't think you wanna be eaten either. At least get us somewhere sheltered…"

After a moment, the Doctor looked up, his eyes immediately on Rose.

"Rose?" he asked.

"We're in some kinda forest…" she replied. The Doctor grinned and went to look for himself.

"And it seems dense enough…fantastic," he declared. "We should be safe here for now."

Jack nodded, satisfied, and walked out the room. Rose and the Doctor locked eyes for a moment.

"So…what now?" Rose asked after awhile. The Doctor shrugged.

"I'll try to figure out what's wrong with her," he answered, patting the console. "And then I'll try to fix whatever it is."

Rose nodded, standing there awkwardly.

"Well…I'm gonna go to the gym," she told him. Then she walked away, leaving the Doctor racking his brain, trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong with her.

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	4. 3: Jolting

_A blank, still wall…_

_A hand…_her_hand, reaching out, pressing against the wall…_

_A crack, loud and deafening…_

_The wall was gone, replaced by darkness…_

_And then she saw them. And they saw her._

Rose woke up sweating. It was the same dream as the night before, _exactly_ the same. Silently she sat up, resting her head on her knees. It was so short, so simple, but so terrifying. What did it mean?

Deciding she had gotten enough sleep to satisfy her, Rose rolled out of bed, grabbing a light sweater. Pulling it over her tousled blonde hair, she walked out the door and to the library.

When she arrived in the large and almost antique-looking room, Rose saw it was already occupied. Thinking it was the Doctor, she was surprised to see Jack sitting in the Time Lord's usual spot.

"You know he'll be upset when he finds you were in his chair," Rose told him, sitting in the seat across from him. Jack looked up from his book and smiled.

"Well he's not sitting in it, is he? And I see no sign that declares it 'his'," Jack retorted. Rose pointed to a golden plaque mounted on the wooden part of the seat. Jack looked between his legs to where she was pointing and saw the beautifully etched words:

_**The Doctor's Chair**_

"Oh," Jack muttered. "Still. He's not sitting in it."

Rose smiled. Jack looked back up to her with a curious look.

"So what are you doing up at this time of night?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same question," she pointed out. Jack shrugged.

"Wasn't tired," he replied. "You, on the other hand, look exhausted."

Rose looked away, not wanting to get onto that topic. Why couldn't Jack and the Doctor just let her _forget_ about the stupid dream?

"You had that nightmare again," Jack guessed after a moment. Rose sighed.

"Jack…" she pleaded. He raised his hands up in defense.

"All right, I understand. I won't ask," he said. Rose breathed out, relieved.

"Thank you," she told him. The two friends sat in silence for a few moments.

"Though, if you ever…" Jack started.

"Jack!"

Jack looked quickly to his book. "Sorry."

XxXxX

The Doctor was still in the control room the next day. At the present moment he was lying on his belly, under the floor, tinkering around with the wires below him. Every once and awhile he would pull his sonic screwdriver out of his mouth and use it to seal, cut, or examine a particular wire but, as it had been ever since he had started, he found nothing out of the ordinary.

But then he saw one wire… It didn't really look different, but the Doctor's senses were tingling so he pulled it up to get a better look. He used the sonic screwdriver to cut it and looked closely at the wires inside the wire. Suddenly the part he had been holding crackled, sending a small jolt of energy into his thumb and forefinger. The Doctor hissed with pain, dropping the wire and sucking on his fingers. That had _hurt_.

Frowning, he picked the wire back up and re-sealed it. He shoved the sonic screwdriver back in his coat, still holding the wire and another shock of electricity ran through the wire—this time with more force.

The Doctor swore loudly and sat up, glaring at the wire as he sucked on his burned fingers.

"What happened?" Rose asked, coming up through the entrance. The Doctor glanced at her, and then jerked his head at the prominent wire, laying innocently on top the others.

"I think I've found out problem," he told her. She smiled, sitting on the floor to be at better level with him.

"Took you long enough," she stated. The Doctor glared at her. She only smiled. After a moment, the Doctor sighed and hauled himself up next to Rose. He covered the opening with its panel, then met Rose's gaze again.

"Sleep well last night?" he asked. Rose's smile vanished and she scowled. Why? Why must this subject be brought up in _every_ conversation?

"No," she pouted. "Had that dream again." What harm could it do to just to tell him? He would've figured it out anyway.

The Doctor frowned. "Rose, this dream…"

"Is just a dream," she interrupted, not wanting to dwell on it.

"For some reason I don't believe that," the Doctor said forcefully. "Tell me about it. I wanna know what happens in it," he whispered gently, resting his hand on her cheek. But, surprisingly, that had no effect, as Rose only stared at him.

"No," she spat, swatting the Doctor's hand away. "Just…leave me alone." And with that, Rose stood up and stormed away.

The Doctor was staring at his hand that Rose had swatted so carelessly away, utterly baffled. He had never seen Rose acting so touchy and angry. For a brief, fleeting moment he wondered if it was her time of the month, but he came to the conclusion it was all the dream…whatever it was.

He glanced at the offending wire below and decided the TARDIS would have to wait. For now, he was going to focus on helping Rose.

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	5. 4: Nightmare

Rose was lying in bed, wide-awake. She couldn't fall asleep…all right, maybe she just didn't want to. The memory of her reoccurring nightmare was too strong. She shuddered, glad to know it would never really happen. It was too impossible. But, then again, time travel was supposed to be impossible also.

_Rose…_

Rose shot up into a sitting position, breathing heavily. That had sounded too familiar. _No,_ she thought stubbornly_. It's just my imagination._

_Rose…_

There it was again! Yet…this time it sounded like the Doctor. Why would he be calling for her at this time of night? She decided to find out.

Pulling on a light sweater, Rose walked down the hall to the Doctor's room. The journey was short, but it seemed painfully long, like she was walking through honey. Her mind didn't seem to be her own as she practically watched herself trudging down the hallway.

Then, for some reason, she stopped. To the right was the door to Jack's room and to the left was the door to the Doctor's room. Rose found herself staring at the still, blank wall in between. Horrified, she watched as her hand reached out and touched the wall…

_Her greatest fear is alive…inside the wall._

A crack like a gunshot echoed in Rose ears as the wall suddenly opened up to a black nothingness except for two horribly mutated corpses. The heads turned and stared at Rose, their mouths creeping into wicked grins. Rose screamed and fell back, unable to wrench her gaze away from the all too familiar eyes.

It was her nightmare.

XxXxX

When the Doctor and Jack heard Rose's scream, the two men immediately rushed out to her side. Both were surprised to see her just outside their rooms, staring at the wall opposite from her, her mouth open in a silent scream.

Without any further thought, they ran to comfort her, asking what was wrong. Silently, Rose pointed a trembling finger to the wall she was still staring at. The men turned to look and were both utterly shocked to see the sight before them.

Themselves.

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	6. 5: Soul

"What the…" Jack muttered as he looked into his own eyes. Another scream from Rose managed to rip his and the Doctor's gazes away from the horror in front of them to the horror behind them.

With the same gunshot-like crack, the wall Rose had been leaning against opened to the same black nothingness, this time with a mutilated corpse of Rose. Before either the Doctor or Jack could react, the corpse had grabbed Rose and dragged her into the darkness, the wall cracking closed after her.

"Rose!" the Doctor bellowed, ramming his fists into the wall. "No!" He turned back to face the other corpses to see Jack staring at a blank wall.

"What's going on?" the Doctor muttered, starting to feel an emotion he didn't feel often: fear. Jack looked up to the Doctor's distraught face.

"I was kinda hoping you would be able to answer that."

The Doctor held Jack's frightened gaze with a crinkled brow and pursed lips.

"I've never seen anything like this before. Closest would have to be the Gelth Rose and I met up with in 1869. This is like something out of someone's worst nightmare."

Both men realized what the Doctor had just said at the same exact moment.

"Rose's dreams," they breathed.

XxXxX

It was hot and humid…and it was pitch black. The strong hands that had dragged Rose away from her friends were gone and all Rose could feel was the cool, hard floor she was sitting on and her heart thudding painfully in her chest. She had come to the conclusion that the zombie that had dragged her in here was the one of herself and now she was wondering if the ones of the Doctor and Jack had grabbed them and pulled them to similar places. Rose hoped not. If the Doctor and Jack were free that gave her a larger chance of being rescued.

_Rose,_ a voice called. Rose looked up but there was nothing to see.

"What do you want from me? Who are you? What have you done with my friends?" she demanded.

_All will be made clear in due time, replied the voice. For the current moment, however, we have some questions for you, Bad Wolf._

Rose frowned. Bad Wolf. Why did those words seem familiar?

"Who's 'Bad Wolf?'" she asked.

_Oh!_ the voice cried, shocked. _Um…never mind. It doesn't matter._

Rose frowned, not convinced, but the earlier fear was ebbing away. She waited for the voice for a while, getting the distinct impression it was consulting with its comrades.

_Well, uh…why don't I explain?_ the voice soon suggested. Rose raised an eyebrow.

"That'd be nice."

_We, the Doctor, Captain Jack, and I, have been sending you messages of us, trying to make you aware of our presence. Unfortunately, this has not been working._

"You mean the dreams?" Rose interrupted. "I thought those were just nightmares!"

_Precisely. Tonight we became desperate enough to control your actions to make you aware of us._

"Hmph. Scared the heck outta me."

_We apologize for that. Frightening you only made things worse for us as your friends now also know of our presence. They cannot know…they will make our goal harder to reach. Therefore, before going through with our original plan, we must rid of your friends._

"What? You mean, kill 'em?" Rose asked, appalled.

_Unfortunately, yes. And we need your help._

"What, you crazy? I'm not gonna help ya kill 'em!" she argued.

_But you must!_ the voice protested.

"Oh, I must, must I? Well, too bad! You'll have to go through me before I'll let ya kill my friends!" Rose burst, standing up. Silence filled the darkness and Rose immediately regretted her words. But before she could apologize, the voice returned.

_I'm sorry we had to do this._

Suddenly Rose could see the three zombies standing directly in front of her. They reached out to her head and clutched it as a blinding pain consumed Rose's entire body and soul.

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	7. 6: Dimmer

"There we go," the Doctor muttered. Jack looked to the computer screen the Doctor was staring intently at.

"Map o' the TARDIS," the Doctor explained. He pointed. "That's the control room. Those two bright dots are me 'n' you. And Rose…." His eyes swept the entire map. He frowned and pushed a button several times, flipping through levels of the TARDIS. Finally he stopped when it cycled back to the main floor. "Rose is nowhere to be seen. Same with the zombies."

Jack moved closer to the screen. "So what does that mean?"

"Well…" the Doctor started. "I'm guessing the TARDIS can't read the zombies cuz they're dead and Rose…well. It either means she's dead or maybe the TARDIS can't read her cuz she's in the walls."

"We're going for the latter of those options, right?" Jack asked, staring at the screen. The Doctor glared at him.

"Yes Jack. We would prefer Rose be alive in the walls rather than _dead_."

The two men stared at the screen for a moment, trying to formulate a plan when something on the screen caught the Doctor's eye.

"Ha!" he exclaimed, pointing. "There she is! Her light's dimmer…that can't be good." Immediately he ran to the door. "Right. Jack, you stay here, keep two eyes on that map. If anything happens to either of us…"

Jack nodded. "Captain Jack Harkness to the rescue. Got'cha."

The Doctor smiled grimly, and then ran down the hall to find Rose.

XxXxX

The entire world seemed to be in a different dimension—life didn't seem a reality. Who was she? What was she doing? Ah, yes. She was following orders. There were two men somewhere around here and she was to dispose of them.

There, coming around the corner was one of the men. Tall, big ears, a somewhat hooked nose and wearing a black leather jacket. Somehow he seemed familiar, like she had known him in another life. No matter.

He was talking to her. "Rose?" Who was that? Was that _her_ name? "Rose, are you all right? What happened to your eyes? Where are the zombies?"

Too many questions! Without any thought at all, she reached out towards him and clutched his neck hard. The man's eyes widened with shock and pain as her grip tightened. Frantically, he clawed at her hand, trying desperately to breath. But she wouldn't let him. Never again.

Finally the man's eyes rolled up to the back of his head. His body went limp and she let go. Her work here was finished. Now to find that other man.

XxXxX

Jack stood at the console, watching intently as the Doctor's dot came up to Rose's. Finally it stopped, just in front of her. His nerves jumping wildly, Jack watched as nothing seemed to be happening. Then the Doctor's dot started to blink. Jack swore and pulled his blaster out, running to the rescue.

XxXxX

There she was, striding slowly towards him like she owned the place. All right, she _did_ live in the TARDIS, but since when did Rose walk like _that_?

"Rose?" Jack asked. There was something about her eyes…like they couldn't focus on any one thing. At the sound of his voice, she turned to look at him. Then he saw what was wrong. Her eyes were dimmed, filmed over like she was blind. Jack raised an eyebrow and backed up. Somehow he didn't think that was a good thing.

"Rose, where's the Doctor? Did the zombies get to him or…Rose?" he asked. She was advancing on him, like a predator advancing on its prey. And Jack really didn't like to be food. After a brief moment's pause, Jack bolted past Rose and sprinted down the hall to find the Doctor.

Soon he found him, crumpled on the ground in a heap, unconscious. Swearing softly, Jack shoved his blaster back where it belonged and rushed to his friend's side. He checked his pulse desperately and his eyes widened when he felt only one pulse. That could not be good.

Quickly he stood up and looked around him. Right next to him was a door. Without further thought, he threw it open and grabbed the Doctor, shoving him in. At that moment, Rose turned the corner towards him. As she approached, Jack's mind worked furiously.

"I don't know what's wrong with you," he told her, "but whatever it is, I'm not letting you near him…or me." With that, Jack stepped inside the room, slamming the door behind him. He heard Rose bellow a roar of rage and leaned his back hard against the door, determined not to let Rose in with her furious poundings. Finally, she gave up with an animal-like growl and walked away. When he could no longer hear her fading footsteps, Jack relaxed and took the opportunity to find out what room they were in. Praising his good luck, Jack grinned.

"Perfect. The infirmary."

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	8. 7: His

Carefully and quickly Jack heaved the Doctor onto one of the beds in the infirmary, grunting under the weight.

"What did you eat for dinner? Bricks?" he muttered under his breath. After getting the Doctor into what seemed like a suitable position, Jack sat down in a nearby chair, at a loss for what to do. One pulse: half of what the Doctor was supposed to have. What could that mean for him? Biting his lower lip, Jack reached out to check his friend's pulse again. Still only one…and the other was slowing considerably. What the heck was Jack to do? He wasn't some kind of doctor: that was the Doctor! …Hence the name.

"TARDIS," he called out, on a whim, "I'm sure you don't want to lose him as much as I do…" He broke off as the Doctor twitched. One sudden move and that was it. The Doctor's face was twisted with pain. Then Jack recognized what was happening. The Doctor was a Time Lord: Time Lords regenerate. Jack breathed out a sigh of relief. It wasn't over yet.

But then the Doctor's face relaxed and Jack sensed the feeling of self-approval coming from the walls or, he realized, the TARDIS itself. Confused, Jack reached out to check the Doctor's pulse again. To his absolute bewilderment, he felt both. The TARDIS had restored them. But why? Couldn't the Doctor just have regenerated? Jack sat back, frowning. He could ask the TARDIS, but he highly doubted he would get a reply. He would've asked the Doctor, but, for one, the Doctor was unconscious at the moment, and, for another, when he woke up Jack guessed he would rather talk about Rose and the zombies rather than his near-death experience.

Jack sat in his chair, pondering for a few minutes until he heard a slight moan from the Doctor. Immediately he stood and rushed to his friend's side. The Doctor's eyes opened and instantly found Jack's.

"Rose," was all he said, as he propped himself up on the pillow. Jack winced.

"Yeah."

The Doctor frowned. "What happened?"

"Well…I saw your light was blinking on the map, decided that wasn't a good thing, and dutifully ran to the rescue like you told me to. Met up with Rose… Did you see her eyes? Like she was blind or something…anyway. Ran to find you, found you…you only had one pulse though. Opened the closest door which just _happened_ to be the infirmary, threw you in…_gently_ of course…and…well. I _think_ you started to regenerate, but the TARDIS restored your other pulse," Jack explained, almost carelessly. The Doctor's eyes widened.

"One pulse?" he repeated. Jack winced again.

"Yeah."

The Doctor breathed out slowly, looking around, his hand unconsciously rising to his neck. After a moment he frowned, his brow creasing, and looked back to Jack.

"How long've we been in here?"

Jack met his gaze, failing to the relevance. He shrugged.

"Ten minutes at the most. Why?"

The Doctor's frown deepened as he sat up completely.

"Rose probably went to report to her employers," he said. Jack frowned.

"The zombies? They can't get it here. Rose couldn't," he argued. The Doctor looked back to Jack, a slightly amused expression on his face.

"You forget. The zombies don't need to use a door."

As if on cue, a deafening crack echoed in both the men's ears. The Doctor jumped out of the bed and whirled around. The far wall was open to that mysterious black nothingness. Inside it, he saw the horribly mutated corpses of himself, Jack, and Rose, so awfully shredded it made even him want to vomit, and standing in front of the trio of zombies, was Rose. _His_ Rose. Not Jack's. Not Mickey's. Not Jackie's. Most of all, _not_ the zombies, even though they presently had control over her. No. _His_ Rose.

Rose stepped out the wall and started to stride towards him. Immediately his anger dwindled, and the Doctor shrank. Rose had already almost killed him. She could do it again and succeed.

"Rose…" he pleaded hoarsely. What was wrong with his voice? "Rose, the real Rose, I know you're in there somewhere…Rose, listen to me! It's me, the Doctor. You don't want to kill me. That's the zombies, inside of you, in control of you, your soul…Rose…"

She took no notice of his pleadings. Jack watched, itching to help. Finally unable to hold himself back, he ran between the Doctor and Rose, only about a foot away from Rose.

"Rose—" but that was as far as he got. Out of nowhere Rose's arm hit the side of Jack's head with such force that he flew across the room. The Doctor watched as Jack hit the wall hard and fell to the floor, unconscious. He looked back to Rose, now seriously frightened, to see she didn't even seem to have noticed. He backed up and resumed his pleading. He _hated_pleading. Oh, how he hated pleading. But how else was he going to get his Rose back? Not that it was working…

His back hit the wall and Rose kept coming. She didn't stop until she there was no physical possible way she could continue. The Doctor, pinned between Rose and the wall, recoiled. Usually he might have savored the closeness, but seeing as she was most definitely going to kill him…

Then an idea popped to his head. _His_ Rose…

Before she could do anything, the Doctor grabbed the back of Rose's head and smashed his lips onto hers. Desperately he kissed her, not quite sure if she was kissing him back or if she just wasn't pulling away because he wasn't letting her. His tongue played with hers for a brief moment before he pulled away, praying it worked.

The Doctor looked into Rose's surprised eyes. They were back to normal…well, kind of. She looked at him, baffled for a moment before whispering,

"Doctor?" and passing out. The Doctor caught her and held her gently. He was _never_ going to do that again, he decided. Too stressful.

A low, animal-like growl reminded him that his work wasn't over yet. He looked up to confront the zombies.

"What do you want?" he said through gritted teeth. The mass of torn flesh that was, in a sort, himself, stepped forward.

"We only wish to go home."

The Doctor gapped. "That's it?" he asked incredulously. "You had to possess Rose's soul and kill Jack and me so you could go home?"

If it were possible, the Doctor zombie might've looked slightly sheepish. "We thought you would kill us."

The Doctor frowned. "Is that possible? Kill the undead…anyway. Doesn't matter." He met his own gaze. "All you had to do was ask. I would've helped."

The zombie looked pleased.

"But on one condition."

The zombie frowned.

"You restore the TARDIS's power," the Doctor said. "It was you who stopped it, am I correct?"

The Doctor zombie winced. "We couldn't get home if it was traveling. We planned to only use the help of Bad Wolf…er, Rose. She couldn't turn off the TARDIS without you questioning her. So we stopped the TARDIS ourselves."

"And sent the shocks through the wire when I was trying to fix it," the Doctor added. The zombie nodded. The Doctor smiled.

"Well then. Now that we've got _that_ sorted out. Let's get to work."

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	9. 8: Again

The Doctor and the zombies were in the TARDIS control room. To the human eye, it seemed the Jack zombie was missing, but in truth, he was in the wire that had shocked the Doctor, putting it back to normal. Soon he reappeared with a crack, directly in front of the Doctor. Taken off guard, the Doctor stepped back slightly. After realizing what it was, he breathed out.

"Jeez…" he muttered.

"The TARDIS will work fine now. Everything should be back to normal," Jack's zombie informed him. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Should?"

The Jack zombie opened his mouth to reply but a sudden tremor shook the entire TARDIS. All four of the occupants of the room went flying. The control panel hit the Doctor in the stomach and he groaned, not just from the pain.

"What _is_ that?" the Rose zombie asked. The Doctor grimaced as he started pulling levers and slamming down on buttons.

"Dino," he said shortly. "Rose, hold down that lever, Captain, the big blue button, Doctor, orange lever over there? Pull it up," he ordered. The zombies did as bid as the Doctor ran around, trying to get the TARDIS to move. After a moment, he stood back, staring at the console, willing it to work. His shoulders slumped and he glared at Jack's zombie.

"Should," he repeated, "but isn't."

Jack-zombie raised his hands defensively with a very Jack-like expression. "I'm sorry! I'm not perfect!"

The Doctor ignored him and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, running to the door. "Grab onto something, all of you, and protect your heads. This is going to hurt. Trust me. I've done it before."

Once again, the Doctor flung open the door, peered out to see the dinosaur's rotten and smelly teeth, aimed the sonic screwdriver upwards and shot it. The same blue laser shot up the dino's mouth and the beast roared, dropping the TARDIS. Right before the impact, the Doctor flung his arms over his head, curled and rolled with the TARDIS. When it stopped, hitting hard against a tree, he stood up, hoping Jack and Rose were fine.

"Right then," he said, turning back to the zombies. "Either fix the TARDIS, _correctly_ this time, or get out there to distract the dinosaur."

With a crack, both Rose-zombie and Jack-zombie disappeared into the wire. The Doctor looked at his zombie with a raised eyebrow.

"And you?" he asked. The Doctor zombie shrugged.

"I'll distract the dinosaur."

The Doctor frowned and watched as the bleeding him walked calmly outside to greet the prehistoric animal. Then figuring he couldn't do anything more, he leaned back against a railing and waited.

XxXxX

Jack was woken to a pounding head as he rolled across the room. When the room stopped moving, he stood, stumbling slightly. He was still in the infirmary, but the zombies and the Doctor were gone…so was Rose. Right. So either the Doctor was dead and his body disposed of, the zombies and Rose back in the walls, or the Doctor had left Jack unconscious in the infirmary and that shaking of the TARDIS had something to do with the Doctor.

Jack groaned. Either the Doctor or the zombies were up to something or another dinosaur had found the TARDIS.

Jack ran to the control room, hoping to find the Doctor there. He was quite surprised when he found the Time Lord leaning calmly against the railing.

"What the heck's goin' on?" he asked, coming up to the Doctor. The Doctor turned to see him and smiled.

"How's your head?" he asked. Jack frowned, and rubbed the back of it again.

"It's a little sore, but it's fine. Where's Rose? And the zombies?"

The Doctor smiled. "Rose is in her room, asleep. The zombies…well, one's outside, distracting a dinosaur, the other two are in a wire below your feet."

Jack looked to the floor. "Why are they in a wire?"

"They're fixing the TARDIS. The reason she wouldn't move earlier was because they had messed with her. Now they're fixing her," the Doctor explained. Jack's frown deepened.

"Why?"

"Cuz if they don't, they don't get to go home," the Doctor answered simply. Jack only stared at him.

"Right. Explanation?"

"All they wanted was to go home. They fix the TARDIS, I help them get home. Simple as that," the Doctor said happily. A crack behind Jack made him whirl around, automatically on guard. In front of him stood the Rose zombie and the Jack zombie. Jack's eyes were instantly drawn to his own body, mutilated and stinking, the corners of his lips curling in disgust.

"Doctor," Rose-zombie said. The Doctor pushed past Jack and looked at her, his eyebrows creasing at the tone in her voice.

"What?"

"We have a problem," was all she said.

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	10. 9: Leak

The Doctor frowned. "What _kind_ of a problem?"

Rose's zombie took a breath before explaining. "To stop the TARDIS we drained the energy needed. Afterwards, we sealed the hole so it wouldn't lose more energy than necessary. Apparently, though, _someone_ didn't do a good enough job sealing the hole," she said, giving Jack's zombie an accusing glare. He glared back.

"What's the problem?" the Doctor hissed through gritted teeth.

"It's been leaking energy," Rose-zombie replied. "Even with the power of all three of us, we can't restore the energy _and_ re-seal the leak."

"So what do you need?" the Doctor asked, his hearts sinking to his stomach. How long were they going to be stuck here?

"Rose," Jack-zombie answered. The Doctor looked to him sharply and paused.

"What's the catch?" he asked softly. The zombies hesitated, looking at each other.

"We'll need to control Rose's soul again," Jack's zombie told the Doctor.

"No," he said automatically. Jack, the real Jack, shot a look at him. The Doctor met it calmly.

"I'm not letting her go through that again."

"Doctor…" Jack began.

"If we can't use her, we can't fix the TARDIS," the Jack zombie argued. The Doctor stared at him and Jack watched him in fascination, noticing the visible internal war his friend was going through. Not for the first time, Jack was glad he wasn't the Doctor.

Finally the Doctor looked away, defeated.

"Fine," he said quietly. "But she gets to make the final decision."

Rose's zombie nodded. "Of course."

"I'll talk to her when she wakes up," he added, this time with more volume.

"There might not be time for that," the Rose zombie pointed out. "Before too long either a dinosaur will succeed in eating us or the TARDIS will lose all its energy and there is no possible way we can fix it then."

"Don't see why being eaten by a dinosaur bothers you; the undead can't die," the Doctor muttered. Aloud he said, "All right. I'll go wake her up."

XxXxX

The Doctor stood at Rose's open doorway, watching her sleep peacefully. She was on her side, one arm flung over her head. He side moved with the motion of her breathing, slow and even. Distantly, he remembered the last time he had come here to wake her up. Then her sleep had been restless, haunted by a dream that soon became a reality. Then he had _wanted_ to wake her, to save her from her nightmare. Now all he wanted to do was watch her sleep. Not wake her so she could lose control of her soul. She didn't deserve that. She deserved a long-needed good night's rest. When she would actually _get_ that was the question.

With a deep, long sigh full of feeling, the Doctor walked to Rose's side and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Rose," he whispered, shaking her shoulder gently. No reaction. Again, he sighed, his eyes fixed on her beautiful face. Heavens, she was beautiful. She was so brave, so strong. His hand caressed her cheek softly. He wished he could be a strong and brave as her. If only he could borrow some of that strength…

Suddenly he pulled his hand away as if he were burned. He had been _caressing_ her! Since when did the Doctor caress _anyone_?

Shaking it away, he resumed trying to wake the young human.

"Rose," he said firmly. "Rose, wake up."

"Mmm…" she mumbled, swatting his hand away. Drugged with sleep, her eyes flicked up to meet his. "Wha' you wan'?"

He smiled gently. "I want you to wake up, that's what."

She groaned unhappily and sat up to look at him. "Why?" she asked. The Doctor hesitated and suddenly Rose's eyes widened. "Wait…" she said. "What happened? Last I remember…the zombies were talking to me." She gasped. "Doctor, they want to kill you! And Jack!" she exclaimed. He grinned at her, his usual goofy grin.

"Not anymore," he said triumphantly. Rose frowned.

"What happened? They wanted me to help them kill you but I told them I wouldn't…and then all I remember is a searing pain…and it wasn't just a physical pain."

The Doctor winced, but Rose wasn't finished.

"But…then I remember waking up from what seemed like…_death_, almost, and your face was really close…like you were really worried or concerned or somethin'."

The Doctor looked away, the tips of his ears turning a shade darker than normal.

"They had taken over your soul. But that's in the past," he said, looking back to Rose. "They were the ones who messed with the TARDIS. All they want, apparently, is to go home. So I made a deal with them. They fix the TARDIS, I get them home. But there's a problem that they hadn't expected, I don't have time to explain it fully, but they need your help," he told her. Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Why me?" she asked. The Doctor shrugged.

"I don't know. But to do it, they need to take over your soul again. I told them you were to make the final decision," he said, silently begging her to say no. Rose considered this, taking in the pleading look in the Doctor's eyes. She knew he wanted her to say no. He didn't want her to go through that again, especially at the wrath of her mother. Distantly, she wished it were more than friendship and fear of Jackie.

"There'll be that pain again, won't there?" she asked after a moment. The Doctor nodded, slightly relieved. She was going to say no! But his spirits plummeted suddenly when Rose spoke again.

"I'll do it."

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	11. 10: Sorry

"Rose!" Jack exclaimed as soon as she and the Doctor walked into the control room. The Doctor walked past Jack and sat down, his head in his hands. He had tried hard to get Rose to change her mind, but to no prevail. The human was too stubborn. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong this time. But there was nothing he could do about it. Rose had made up her mind and _nothing_ was going to change that.

Rose smiled as Jack approached her and enveloped her in a huge hug. He pulled away, a concerned look on his face.

"The Doctor explain to you?" he asked. Rose nodded.

"At least, about what I have to do, not about what happened. He's going to after everything's done, though," she said, giving the Doctor a glance. He ignored it. Rose sighed and turned to face the trio of zombies that were standing at the other end of the room. The Doctor's zombie had gotten rid, somehow, of the dinosaur and had come back inside to join his fellow undead, to help possess Rose's soul.

Jack walked over to join the Doctor on the bench he was sitting on.

"She'll be fine," he said quietly as Rose walked up to the zombies. The Doctor tore his gaze away from Rose to give Jack a glare full of contempt.

"No, she won't," he said. Jack watched as the Doctor turned back to watch Rose, surprised. Did the Doctor know something?

"Again, we're sorry," Rose's zombie said and Jack turned his attention back to Rose. The zombies reached out to Rose's head as one and grabbed it hard. Suddenly Rose was withering and screaming, obviously in unimaginable pain. Unable to watch, Jack looked away, shutting his eyes hard. The Doctor kept his eyes on her for as long as he could, but eventually ended up looking to the floor, biting his lip so hard he could taste blood.

Finally Rose stopped screaming. Both Jack and the Doctor looked back to her to see the zombies pulling their hands back. Rose was standing in front of them still, but now with a rigid back. Slowly, she turned to look at them, her eyes glazed over like before. The Doctor met her gaze, fighting the strong impulse to look away. It was done.

"We'll get to work," Jack's zombie said after a tense moment of silence and, with a crack, all four of them disappeared into the TARDIS.

With a shaky exhale, the Doctor looked back to the floor. Jack watched him for a moment, and then leaned back, sinking down in the bench.

"Well," he said. "Might as well get comfortable."

XxXxX

A few hours later and the only thing that had changed was the Doctor was now standing, pacing around the control panel. Jack was watching him, somewhat amused.

"Are you trying to wear a hole in the floor?" he asked finally. The Doctor stopped and glared at him.

"I can't help but be nervous! What's taking them so long?"

Jack shrugged. "Dunno. But we can't really do anything about it, can we?"

Suddenly the TARDIS gave a violent shudder and both of the men fell to the floor. The Doctor swore and stood up.

"Not _again_," he hissed under his breath as he ran to the door, Jack close behind him. The Doctor flung the door open and stopped, surprised to see _no_ rotten teeth to greet him. His forehead creasing, he stepped outside, looking around.

"Where is it?" he whispered. Unexpectedly, the entire forest shook. Both the Doctor and Jack whirled around. Jack's jaw dropped and the Doctor grimaced.

"The bones of that were never found, were they?" Jack asked hoarsely, his eyes fixed on the enormous monster behind the TARDIS.

"Nope," the Doctor replied, looking to the open TARDIS door. Jack winced.

"Didn't think so."

"Right then," the Doctor said, his plan formulated. "You did a fine job distracting the dino last time."

"What?" Jack exclaimed, tearing his eyes away from the beast. But the Doctor was already running back to the TARDIS. "What are _you_doing?" Jack yelled.

"Getting the zombies!" the Doctor yelled back. Jack frowned.

"How?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Dunno. But I'll find out!" and with that, he ran inside the TARDIS, leaving Jack with the gigantic dinosaur. Jack looked back up to the animal, cracking his knuckles.

"Right then. Bring it on."

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	12. 11: Scream

For a moment, the Doctor stood there in the control room, trying to figure out how he would get to the zombies. He looked to the floor to see the mess of wires below his feet and grinned. It might not work, but it was worth a try.

Jumping in to action, the Doctor threw a floor panel away and crawled under. There it was; that shocking wire. He grabbed it and yanked it apart, too much in a hurry to do it neatly with his sonic screwdriver. Immediately after yanking the wire apart, the zombies and Rose appeared right in front of him. Surprised it actually worked, the Doctor fell back to see the Rose zombie glaring at him intensely.

"What was that for?" she demanded. The Doctor stood up hurriedly, brushing his hands on his jacket.

"We've got a problem outside," he explained. She scowled.

"We've got a problem inside," she retorted. The Doctor scowled back.

"The problem outside is more immediate."

Rose's zombie held his intense glare for a moment before relaxing slightly.

"Fine. Show us the problem."

The Doctor nodded his approval and rushed outside, the undead and Rose following him. Once he met up with Jack, he turned and pointed at the dinosaur. The zombies turned and the Doctor zombie's eyebrows rose.

"Ah," he said. The Doctor turned back to look at them.

"Now, since the undead can't die…" he started.

"We don't know that," Rose's zombie interrupted. The Doctor glared at her again, his nostrils flaring slightly.

"Since the undead can't die," he repeated, "you three are going to get rid of this dinosaur."

The zombies were silent. The Doctor sighed.

"If Jack, Rose and I get eaten, I can't help you get home."

The zombies were still silent. After a moment, the Doctor zombie stepped forward.

"I'll do it."

The Doctor nodded at him.

"Thought you would."

Without a further word, the Doctor's zombie walked up to the dinosaur. The monster noticed and eyed him, sizing him up. Then, before anyone could react, the beast snatched him up with his mouth. The Doctor's zombie was gone.

"NO!" Rose's zombie screamed. His eyes wide, the Doctor stared at her. _But…_ he thought desperately. Suddenly the Doctor's zombie was back, in front of the dinosaur, a truly shocked expression on his face. The real Doctor grinned widely.

"Ha!" he exclaimed. "I told you the undead can't die!"

Rose's zombie turned to stare at him, contempt written all over her face.

"All right," she agreed, "the undead can't die. But what about the half-dead?"

The Doctor's grin vanished as he stared back, uncomprehending. Slowly, his eyes widened.

"Don't you dare," he hissed through gritted teeth. The Rose zombie held his gaze a little longer before turning back to him. The real Rose suddenly walked forward and past the Doctor zombie, directly in front of the dinosaur, who was staring at the Doctor's zombie, baffled. The beast cocked his head slightly as he looked at Rose. The Doctor zombie turned and caught Rose's zombie gaze. The two of them nodded barely and looked to Jack's zombie, who nodded also. The real versions of the Doctor and Jack glanced at each other, confused.

Suddenly a piercing scream cut through the air. Jack gasped and clapped his hands on his ears, feeling his body tense with pain. The Doctor saw the scream was emitting from Rose before shoving his fingers in his ears and stumbling back with pain. For what seemed like an eternity, the scream continued, never wavering, never breaking for breath. If either of the men had the strength to look, they would've seen the dinosaur falling to the ground, withering and twitching in pain. Finally the dinosaur grew still and the scream stopped.

Warily, the Doctor pulled his fingers from his ears and looked up to the dinosaur to see it was dead. A horrible feeling bubbling in his stomach, he ran to Rose, holding her shoulders gently. With her blind eyes, she stared at him, completely silent.

"Rose," he said gently, knowing she couldn't hear him. She blinked at him and suddenly collapsed in his arms. He caught her and looked up to the zombies who were staring at him. Anger boiling up inside of him, he glared at them, too much in a rage to speak. Rose's zombie looked away from his gaze and to the girl in his arms. Rose stood up looking completely recovered, except for her glazed eyes, and looked at him briefly before walking over to join the undead.

"Now," Rose's zombie said sternly, "if you would excuse us." And with that, Rose and the zombies walked back into the TARDIS. After watching until the door closed behind them, the Doctor turned around to stare at the dead beast before him.

"What the heck was that?" Jack asked, coming up behind him. The Doctor shook his head.

"I don't know. It sounded oddly similar to a banshee," he replied. Jack raised an eyebrow.

"And you would know how a banshee sounds like…how?" he asked. The Doctor looked at him.

"Met one once. Pretty girl. Didn't know she was a banshee 'til she started screaming, though."

Jack's eyebrows rose higher and he smiled slightly, amused. "How long did it take for you to find out?"

The Doctor glanced at him again before looking away. "Well, it was pretty late into the night," he replied. Jack snorted, trying not to laugh. The Doctor shot him a sideways look.

"What?" he demanded. Jack bit his lip as he fought down his laughter.

"You…" he said, "like me!"

The Doctor glared at him. "No."

Jack grinned. "C'mon. Admit it."

The Doctor's glare intensified. Then he looked away. "She was quite pretty!" he argued defensively. After a moment's thought, he added, "And I was drunk." Then he jumped as Jack erupted in a barking laughter.

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	13. 12: Lies

The Doctor and Jack had made their way back into the TARDIS. Jack had resumed his spot on the bench and the Doctor had gone back to pacing. Jack watched him, still amused by the whole banshee episode.

There was a loud and all-too familiar crack and the Rose zombie appeared directly in front of the Doctor. He stopped pacing and glared at her.

"What?" he demanded gruffly. She took a breath, not looking the Doctor in the eyes. He noticed and his eyes widened. He grabbed her torn shoulders and shook her.

"What?" he bellowed. She looked up, a sad note in her eyes.

"It's Rose," she said softly. Jack stood up suddenly and walked towards them. The Doctor stared at Rose's zombie, his hearts sinking deep into his stomach.

"What about her?" he hissed, fighting the urge to rip this corpse in his hands to shreds.

"She was absorbed into the TARDIS and transferred into energy," Rose's zombie whispered. The Doctor's mouth opened slightly in shock and his hands fell to his side. He stumbled back slightly, grabbing the control panel to keep himself from falling. Jack stormed up to the zombie.

"Can't you bring her back?" he demanded. The Rose zombie shook her head, sadly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered quietly. But then she looked up. "Though, she was enough energy to replace what was lost and re-seal the leak. The TARDIS will work again."

The Doctor looked up, his face hard and expressionless as stone. "You actually think I'll move the TARDIS with Rose…like that?" he asked incredulously. Rose-zombie's face hardened.

"You made a deal with us," she said. A corner of the Doctor's mouth twitched.

"My friend's dead. The deal's off," he declared and stormed out the room. Rose's zombie watched him, her lips pursed. Then she turned to glare at Jack.

"He promised."

Jack scoffed. "And you killed Rose. He has every right to cut off the deal." And then he walked off to follow the Doctor.

Rose's zombie watched his retreating back until she could no more and then turned back, scowling darkly. This was not going the way they had planned.

XxXxX

Despairingly, the Doctor rested his head on the door to his room. Rose was gone. Dead. Made into energy to make the TARDIS work. All right, so he would've done practically anything to fix the TARDIS himself, but Rose…. Misery wallowed up inside of him as he rested a hand of the wall, as if he could feel Rose's presence inside of it. He had allowed this to happen. If only he had just put his foot down and not let the zombies take over her soul…but then they wouldn't have gotten the TARDIS fixed. And Rose had agreed to do it. She had known the risks. All the same, the Doctor felt dreadfully responsible.

A small noise made the Doctor whirl around, ready to fight. But there was nothing in here, save himself. Something drew his gaze upwards. He frowned. There wasn't wallpaper on the ceiling! But a sheet of paper was peeling off…how was that possible? He reached up and tugged it off, and noticed there was writing on it. He smiled slightly as he recognized the handwriting the notes from the TARDIS always appeared in. But the smile disappeared as soon as he read the three-word note.

_It's all lies._

What was all lies? A quiet knock at the door and the Doctor turned around to see Jack opening the door. He smiled briefly.

"Hey," he said. "You okay?"

The Doctor nodded, not even quite sure what the captain was talking about. His mind was on the TARDIS's note. He held it up for Jack to see. Jack frowned and walked forward, taking the note from the Doctor's hand.

"It's from the TARDIS," the Doctor explained as Jack read it. Jack's forehead creasing, he looked up.

"What's all lies?" he asked. The Doctor shook his head, but stopped suddenly as realization dawned on him.

"Rose," he said. "The zombies have been lying all along."

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	14. 13: Fear

In a fury, the Doctor stormed to the control room, Jack hurrying to catch up with him. Immediately, the Doctor threw the floor panel to Jack, who just barely caught it, and dived to the wire that had been fixed, somehow, by the zombies. Again, he yanked the wire in two and jumped up as the zombies, and Rose, appeared in front of him. The Doctor grinned like a maniac as he gazed at Rose. The zombies looked furious, realizing they were found out. After completely relishing the triumph that Rose was still alive, the Doctor grabbed her shoulders and threw her behind him to Jack. Surprised, Jack dropped the floor panel and caught Rose. Then the Doctor turned back to the zombies. Rose's sneered at him.

"We can still control her," she pointed out.

"But you won't until you answer a few questions," the Doctor said. "What do you _really_ want? Why did you stop the TARDIS in _prehistoric_ times? Why do you want Rose's soul? And who are you?"

Rose's zombie grinned evilly. "Stopping in prehistoric times was a mistake, but we figured we could get to civilization once we had completed our primary goal here: taking over Rose."

"Why?" the Doctor asked. "What's so special about her?"

The female zombie stared at him for a while before looking behind him suddenly. The Doctor turned around to see Rose suddenly elbow Jack hard in the face. Jack fell back and Rose charged at the Doctor. The Doctor braced himself and grabbed her as she slammed into him. He craned his neck forward as Rose started clawing at his arms and kissed her, internally shaking his head at himself. He had said he wouldn't do this again. Oh well.

The Doctor felt Rose's body relax in his grip as he kissed her passionately, but he didn't pull away. He kept kissing her, long and hard, trying not to release all his emotion so as not to hurt the fragile human. He thought he heard her mutter his name, but he kept at it. He loved her too much, he couldn't draw away…

"Doctor…" she whispered, pulling away. He opened his eyes and looked at her, suddenly embarrassed. He looked up to see Jack was staring at him, open-mouthed, and flushed slightly. Roughly, he pushed Rose back to Jack and turned around to confront the zombies again.

"Now," he said calmly, as if nothing had happened, "answer my question. Why do you want Rose?"

Rose rushed to Jack's arms, eyes wide. "Was it just my imagination," she said quietly, "or was the Doctor…"

"He was kissing you," Jack finished, confirming her suspicions. The Doctor tensed.

"Will you two shut it?" he called, not turning. Jack and Rose shut up. The Doctor turned his attention back to Rose's zombie, whose nostrils were flaring slightly.

"Answer me."

The female zombie's mouth twitched before she jerked her head at Rose. "Ask her."

The Doctor frowned and turned to give Rose a sideways glance. She stared at him, her eyes wide.

"How am I supposed to know?" she demanded, shrugging. The Doctor turned back to look at the Rose zombie.

"What is she supposed to know?" he asked. Rose's ripped and torn corpse smiled.

"She created us. She should know everything about us."

Incredulous, the Doctor turned to stare at Rose. She stared back.

"I have no idea what she's talking about," Rose protested defensively. The Doctor stared at her a bit longer before turning back as the female zombie started talking again.

"We," she said, gesturing to herself and her companions, "are her greatest fear. Not so much me, but the Doctor and Jack. Especially the Doctor."

Rose gasped. She froze as she found herself looking deeply into her own eyes. "We started out as a nightmare, plain and simple," Rose's zombie continued, "and progressed to a live creation. All thanks to a stupid ape."

Jack leaned down to whisper in Rose's ear. "If they're your imagination, maybe the Doctor's kiss was also."

The Doctor glared at him. "Shut it."

Jack smiled jestingly. The Doctor scowled and looked back to the zombies. "So what do you plan to do after you take over Rose?"

Rose's zombie shrugged. "Take the TARDIS back to civilization and feed off their souls. We _do_ need food."

"I thought you couldn't fix the TARDIS," the Doctor pointed out. The female zombie sighed impatiently.

"The TARDIS was never broken. All we did was stall it whenever you tried to move."

The Doctor frowned. "How?"

Rose-zombie rolled her eyes. "Does it really matter? All that matters is we're here. And we're stronger than all three of you. And you happen to be in our way. So if you would excuse us, we have work to do." She turned her back to him, walking past her comrades. "Doctor, Captain," she said. "Take them away."

With that, the zombies of the Doctor and Jack grabbed the humans and Time Lord and roughly pulled them out the room.

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	15. 14: Rest

As the door slammed closed in front of him, the Doctor could feel his rage building up slowly. He took a deep breath to calm himself and turned. Jack was watching him with a bored expression, sitting down with his knees up, in the far left corner of the room. In the far right corner was Rose, was who also watching him, but with some slight interest. The Doctor sighed and walked over to sit in front of her, his back to the wall. Jack sat up slightly and met his gaze.

"Right," the captain said. "What's the plan? How you getting us outta here?"

The Doctor glared at him, but it was a softer glare. He just didn't have the energy to be upset with the human.

"I'm working on it," he said wearily. In truth, he was too tired, too frustrated to think clearly. And, not to mention, Rose's eyes still hadn't left his face. His muscles tensing somewhat, he met her gaze.

"How you feeling?" he asked. Finally, her eyes moved from their stare. She shrugged.

"Fine," she tried to answer, but was stopped by a large yawn. He smiled at her.

"You need some rest," he told her gently. Rose shook her head, but the Doctor persisted.

"You haven't gotten a good night's sleep in, what? Four, five days? And if I know humans, and I do, five days without a full six to eight hours of sleep is not a good thing. Not to mention, I don't want you collapsing with exhaustion at my feet when we get outta here," the Doctor said, grinning. Rose smiled at him and sighed.

"There's nowhere comfortable enough to sleep in here," she protested, indicating the bare floor and walls. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"There's nowhere comfortable enough? Rose Tyler, I'm afraid you are sadly mistaken," the Doctor said in an almost _offended_ tone. Rose looked up to his blue-grey eyes, her eyebrows high. The Doctor grinned and indicated himself.

"C'mere."

Rose's eyes widened. "You?" she asked. The Doctor could see Jack grinning ear-to-ear in the corner of his eye, but ignored it. He nodded. Rose smiled and scooted closer to him, resting her head gently on his chest. After a moment, the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Relax," he ordered. Rose relaxed, settling her entire body weight on the Doctor's chest. She snuggled into his warm body and closed her eyes. She could stay like this forever, she decided. A warm smile growing on his face, the Doctor ran his fingers through her smooth and silky colored hair.

After a moment, Jack coughed. The Doctor looked up, shaken out of his daydreams.

"What?" he demanded. Jack smiled at him.

"Are you really thinking of how we're gonna get outta here or are you thinking dirty?" he asked. The Doctor scowled.

"I said I'm working on it," he growled. "You think I'm gonna let zombies take over the TARDIS and while I sit here and think '_dirty_?'"

Rose shook suddenly, slightly and the Doctor looked to her face to see her eyes shut tightly, an amused smile on her lips.

"I'm not thinking dirty!" he protested. Rose opened one dancing eye.

"Yeah, but it's funny to imagine," she told him. The Doctor scowled at her.

"Go to sleep," he commanded.

"Yes, mother," Rose replied, closing her eyes again.

"Hmph," the Doctor pouted. "I am _nothing_ like Jackie Tyler and don't you forget it."

Jack rolled his eyes. "All right, we understand, now can you get back to the matter at hand?"

The Doctor shot the captain an angry glance, and then looked back to the top of Rose's head, his fingers still brushing through it. Silence filled the room again as both Jack and the Doctor rummaged through their minds, trying to formulate a plan.

"Sonic screwdriver?" Jack asked after a while. The Doctor shot him a glance.

"They're not that stupid. They know I have it," he pointed out. Jack frowned, sitting back. After a moment, he reached into his pants…not his pocket, his pants. The Doctor watched, the corner of his mouth curling.

"What _are_you doing?" he asked. Jack answered by showing him what he had retrieved. The Doctor stared at it, disgusted.

"You keep that there _all_ the time?"

Jack shrugged. "You get used to it."

"No," the Doctor pushed, "I mean, you keep it there _**all**_ the time?"

Realizing what the Doctor meant, Jack grinned. "Yeah."

"I don' wanna know," Rose mumbled, her face smothered in the Doctor's jacket. Jack stood up, still smiling, and aimed the small gun at the door's lock. He pulled the trigger and rushed to it, trying to see if it worked. Rose shot up, surprised.

"What the he-?"

The Doctor pushed her head back down, shushing her. "Might not've worked so calm down."

Jack turned, his shoulders slumped slightly. "Almost," he said, backing up and aiming the gun again.

"Don't," the Doctor ordered tersely. "They'll hear you this time."

Jack glared at him. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

The Doctor didn't answer but shoved his free hand into one of the many pockets in his jacket. Out he pulled the sonic screwdriver and tossed it to Jack.

"I want it back as soon as you're done," he said and Jack grinned, catching the small cylinder.

"'Course," he replied. Immediately, he set to work on the lock. It didn't take long before he heard a satisfactory '_click_' and the door opened a crack.

"We're out," he informed them, throwing the sonic screwdriver back to the Time Lord. The Doctor caught it and shoved it back in his pocket.

"C'mon Rose," he said gently. Rose groaned. She had just been about to fall asleep. Jack smiled at the two of them as they stood up.

"Let's go kick some zombie butt."

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	16. 15: Destroy

Rose had always wanted to take some kind of self-defense class. It had looked so cool in the movies! If only she could've…but instead, she had ended up taking gymnastics. All right, so that had saved the Doctor's life when they had first met, but now? Rose really wished she had taken self-defense.

As soon as she and her friends had walked into the control room, the zombies had quite suddenly attacked them, each zombie to the real versions of them. Rose's was particularly vicious and was clawing at her arms, her hair, biting her shoulders, her fingers, whatever found themselves too close to her mouth. Rose screamed shortly when her zombie had first attacked and now found herself fighting for her life. It was times like these when she wished she had never met the Doctor. All the death, all the danger.

Suddenly Rose found herself flying to a wall, flung easily across the room by her zombie. She hit the wall hard and crumpled to the floor. After gathering her wits back up, Rose stood and could only watch the scene before her with horror welling up inside. The Rose zombie had decided to help the Doctor zombie with Rose's Doctor and the Jack zombie was about finished with the Captain. Rose ducked as Jack flew towards her, hitting the wall himself. He groaned and hauled himself up. Rose stared at him and he grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her.

"Don't even _try_ to help him," he hissed. "You'll kill yourself."

Confused, Rose stared into his eyes. What was he talking about? And why was he holding her so tightly? She soon realized Jack wasn't looking at her, but past her. She turned to look where his gaze was held to see all three zombies ganging up on the Doctor. But Rose didn't care about that. What she cared about was the Doctor himself.

One eye was half-closed, a black eye forming. Blood was trickling steadily from his mouth and his blows were weak and wild. Suddenly, he was on the floor, stomach first. Unable to fight back any longer, the Doctor only laid there, wincing with the constant blows of pain. Wearily, he opened his eyes and met Rose's gaze. Their gazes locked as tears welled up in Rose's eyes. The zombies were _killing_ him.

The Rose zombie turned around and ripped a piece of the railing off. Then she turned back to the Doctor, raising the metal bar above her, ready to bring it down on the Doctor's head, the final blow. The Doctor drew his gaze away from Rose and looked up to see his end. This was it, he knew. _Good-bye Rose,_ he thought and prepared himself for the darkness.

"NO!" came a sudden, high scream. The Doctor's eyes snapped open to see Rose, _his_ Rose, now with the metal bar in her hands, staring with fury at the female zombie cowering before her. The look in Rose's eyes was so fierce, the Doctor would've never guessed she was scared to death…mostly for him.

"If I created you," Rose seethed, "I can destroy you."

Suddenly there was a small _pop_ and the Rose zombie disappeared. Rose looked at Jack's zombie and with another _pop_, he disappeared. She, then, looked to the Doctor zombie and, again, _pop_, he was gone. After taking in a shaky breath, Rose scrambled over to the Doctor, _her_ Doctor, who was staring at her in awe, sitting up.

"Are you okay?" she asked. He nodded, still staring at her.

"Stars, Rose…" he whispered, blood sputtering through his teeth. Hastily, he wiped it away, as Rose watched with sympathy. "You're amazing."

She blushed slightly, looking down. "It comes from hanging with you," she told him and he smiled. Unable to her herself back any longer, Rose fell into the Doctor's arms, hugging him hard.

"I was so scared," she told him through her tears. "I thought…"

"Sh…it's okay. I'm fine, Jack's as alive as ever, you're safe," he told her, patting her back. "You're safe."

Rose shook her head, looking up at him. "Not for me," she whispered, "for you. I thought…you were gonna leave me."

The Doctor stared at her. Did she…? No.

He smiled tenderly, brushing away her tears.

"I'll never leave you," he promised, meaning more than he made it seem. "Never."

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	17. Epilogue

The next morning the Doctor was standing in front of the large mirror in his bedroom, studying himself. He left eye had swollen shut and there was a good-sized gash in his lower lip. Tenderly, he fingered it, wincing at the sting of pain. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the door open behind him, admitting Rose in. He turned and smiled warmly.

"Mornin'," he greeted. She smiled.

"You haven't made breakfast yet," she told him. He pursed his lips.

"Well I didn't figure you'd be awake this early," he replied. "Why _are_ you anyway?"

She shrugged, closing the door behind her. "Couldn't sleep."

The Doctor panicked and rushed to her side. "Why? What's wrong? It's not the zom-"

"I'm fine," Rose said, smiling at his concern. "I was just…thinkin'."

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at her sternly. "Don't you _ever_ do that to me again."

Rose only grinned. The Doctor smiled at her, relishing her presence. After a moment, he spoke.

"What were you thinking about?"

Rose smiled, punching his forearm gently. "How you still need to explain to me everythin' I missed."

The Doctor smiled and sat her down on the foot of his bed, starting to dive into the story. After he finished, he looked to meet her gaze, which was quiet and thoughtful. He frowned.

"What is it?" he asked softly. Rose met his eyes.

"Doctor…" she started, "how did you…revive me?"

The Doctor's breath caught and he looked away, his ears turning pink.

"Doesn't matter," he muttered. Rose frowned, standing up, and grabbed his elbow, forcing him to look her in the eye.

"It matters to me," she said firmly. The corner of his mouth twitched as he stared into her eyes, captivated. _Oh Rose…_he pleaded silently.

He thought for a moment longer, making his decision. Without a word, he placed his hand on the back of her neck, his fingers tangled in her hair. Slowly, he closed his eyes and leaned his head forward, brushing her lips with his. He stayed there for a second, scared to see her reaction. Then he pulled away, disappointed, but not surprised, to see her staring at him, mouth open slightly. He scowled and turned his back on her.

"You asked."

_A/N: Thank you to Toni Cox, who stuck with this story from the beginning._

_laced-with-fire, who became my amazing beta a little ways into the story._

_My mom, for tolerating all the time I spent on the computer._

_My sisters, for being totally cute and awesome as I explained to them, dramatically, the events._

_And thank you to everyone who has or will read and/or review!_

_I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


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